New England flag

Description

"The New England flag. This is copied from an old Dutch work, preserved in the library of the New York Historical Society, containing pictures of the flags of all nations. In the original, a divided sphere, representing the earth, is in the quarter where I have placed the pine-tree. I have made the alteration in the device, because in the flag raised upon the bastion of the redoubt on Breed's Hill, the pine-tree occupied the place of the sphere, the more ancient device. The question has been unsettled respecting the flag used on that occasion, as contemporary writers are silent on the subject. An intelligent old lady (Mrs. Manning) whom I saw between the Brandywine and Kennet Square, in Pennsylvania, informed me that her father, who was in the battle, assisted in hoisting the standard, and she had heard him speak of it as a 'noble flag.' The ground was blue, and one corner was quartered by the red cross of St. George, in one section of which was the pine-tree. This was the New England flag, as given in the sketch. Doubtless there were many other flags belonging to the several regiments."—Lossing, 1851